


It's OK. I couldn't sleep anyway

by Blue_Robin



Series: One Hundred Ways To Say 'I Love You' [2]
Category: Cormoran Strike Series - Robert Galbraith
Genre: Acknowledged Feelings, Explanations, F/M, First Kiss, Post-Lethal White, Resolved Romantic Tension, Sweetness, nuzzles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-07
Updated: 2019-02-07
Packaged: 2019-10-24 01:30:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17695025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blue_Robin/pseuds/Blue_Robin
Summary: Our lovely LulaIsAKitten asked if I'd mind doing #16 ("It's OK. I couldn't sleep anyway.") on theOne Hundred Ways To Say I Love Youprompt list on tumblr.I can't resist that LulaCat.





	It's OK. I couldn't sleep anyway

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LulaIsAKitten](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LulaIsAKitten/gifts).



> Our lovely LulaIsAKitten asked if I'd mind doing #16 ("It's OK. I couldn't sleep anyway.") on the [](<div%20class=)[One Hundred Ways To Say I Love You](https://rosenoble9.tumblr.com/post/182613770451/one-hundred-ways-to-say-i-love-you) prompt list on tumblr.
> 
> I can't resist that LulaCat.

Cormoran was blasted from sleep, at two o’clock in the morning, by the guitar solo from Free Bird.

His partner, Robin, had finally gotten around to teaching him how to download music and set songs as ringtones. He’d immediately set the ringer for her calls to Free Bird.

“I had to,” he’d shrugged when she’d protested. “You’re named for a bird and, well…” He’d left the rest unsaid, but since the divorce paperwork had gone through earlier that week, technically she was now a “free bird”.

Robin had rolled her eyes at him but said nothing further. Though as she’d turned away he thought he’d seen a small grin quirking the corner of her mouth.

As the guitar solo swelled he swept the phone from the shelf he’d hung above his bed and jabbed the green button, “Robin? You OK?”

“I am. I’m fine.” Her voice was pitched high to allow him to hear her over a pounding bass beat and thrumming synthesizers. “I’ve just finished tailing Hawk Eye and the Land Rover has a dead battery. I came back into the club I tailed him to and asked the security if someone might be able to give me a jump, but they can’t.” She blew out a frustrated breath. “I wouldn’t call this late, but I don’t want to leave the Rover parked down here and I can’t afford a tow. Is there any chance…”

“Where are you?” he interrupted. AS soon as he'd grasped the situation he’d started getting himself together, sliding his gel pad back over his stump and then sliding his prosthesis over that. Pulling up the jeans he’d removed a few hours ago before switching the phone to speakerphone and setting it back on the shelf, so he could tug on his t-shirt and jumper.

“It’s a place called Fabric. It’s in Clerkenwell.” The bass beat and synth had receded as she’d talked, replaced by the sound of heels on pavement.

“Did you leave the club?” He barked. He hated when she was out late. He especially hated when she was out late and walking on the streets alone.

“I did. I could barely hear you in there.” The sound of her footsteps had stopped. “I’m just heading back to the truck.”

“Where is it parked?” He shrugged on his coat, grabbed his wallet and keys and started down the stairs.

“Corner of Grand Avenue and Charterhouse Street.” She was shivering now. Her teeth chattering slightly as she spoke.

“OK. I’m on my way,” he said as he swung out of the building. “Get to the truck and lock yourself in. I’ll call you back once I’m on the road.”

“Roger that.”

He walked as briskly as he could to the garage he kept the BMW stored in, coat flapping, breath clouding in the air around him. As he walked he used his phone to pull up the GPS directions to Fabric and committed the route to memory. He reached the BMW and slid into the driver’s seat, plugged the phone into the USB cable that would connect it to the radio and rang Robin back.

She picked up on the second ring. “I’m here.”

“I’m on the road. Are you locked in?”

“I am. I’ve got one of the blankets over me and I’m fine.” She paused, sniffed. “I’m just sorry to wake you up for this.”

“It’s OK. I couldn’t sleep anyway.” He didn’t often lie to Robin. She was too good at seeing through him. He didn’t know why he lied now, except that he didn’t want her to feel guilty for needing his help. He wanted her to feel she could call him anytime. For anything. He didn’t enjoy the idea of Robin being in a situation like this, but he wasn’t above being pleased that he was the one she called in an emergency.

And if knowing he was that person for her made his chest swell with masculine pride, no one needed to know that but him.  

“Really? You were out the entire night last night tailing Hawk Eye. I know you must have been tired.” He could hear the skepticism in her tone.

“Yes really.” He tried to sound exasperated. She knew him too well. “I was wide awake.” He hastily pulled down the visor mirror while he waited at a traffic signal and checked his face to make sure there were no tell-tale pillow creases. He glanced at his hair but decided, with a shrug, that it looked like it usually did. Messy.

“Well I appreciate you coming out in the cold to help me like this. I’m sorry to have to drag you out.” He could hear the shivers in her voice getting stronger. He eyed his speedometer as he sped up.

“It’s not a problem. You’d do it for me.” Except that he’d never call her and cause her to come out like this for him. He’d walk through a blizzard if it meant she stayed safe and warm.

“’Course I would.” He could almost see her nodding. “Except that you’d never call me if this happened to you. I know better.” She chuckled at his non-committal grunt at that. “I know how you are, Cormoran. You’d call Nick or Shanker instead of me.”

“But only because…”

“I know,” she interrupted. “And I appreciate it. Never let it be said that chivalry is dead. Not while Cormoran Strike walks the Earth.”

He barked out a laugh as he turned onto Grand Avenue. “Well, your peg legged knight in tarnished armor has arrived.” He disconnected the call and then pulled up in front of the hood of the Land Rover and backed the BMW as close as he could get to the bumper.

Robin joined him on the pavement as he opened the boot of his car. She’d left the blanket in the Land Rover and was now shivering hard enough for her teeth to chatter even with her mouth shut. As he looked her over he mentally shook his head.

She was wearing black pants that were skin tight, showing every curve of her long legs and ending at her ankles. Her narrow feet appeared to be bare and were tucked into black pumps with heels high enough to put her forehead at his nose. There was the bottom of what appeared to be a thickly woven pewter blue jumper draping below her thin black peacoat. She had a grey scarf wrapped around her neck, almost up to her nose. Strands of her bright hair were escaping from the scarf she’d wrapped around it and blowing in the bitterly cold wind rushing down the street. Her nose was red, and her hands were stuck in the pockets of her coat, but he could see she wasn’t wearing gloves. He supposed she'd dressed so that she'd fit in at the clubs Hawk Eye liked to frequent. 

“Climb in the car. The heater’s warmed up. I’ll take care of this.” He gestured to the passenger seat of the BMW as he extracted his jumper cables from the boot. Robin hesitated but with a firm nudge and a growled, “Go,” she gave in and slid into the warm interior of the car.

He stalked around to the driver’s side of the truck and tugged the door open, stooping down to pull the hood release, and grabbing the blanket she’d left laying on the front seat before slamming the door shut. He tossed the blanket into the boot of his car as he uncapped the battery terminals and clamped the jumper cable ends onto them and then stepped over and clamped them to the terminals of the Land Rover’s battery.

As he heard his car idle down a bit, with the strain of charging the Land Rover’s battery, he snatched up the blanket from his boot and opened the driver’s side door of his car and sank back down into the seat. He tossed the blanket into Robin’s lap and then leaned over the center console, resting his forearm on her leg briefly as he opened the glove compartment and removed a pair of woolen mittens he’d tossed there after his last trip home to St. Mawes.

“Here, put these on.” He handed them to Robin, who tugged them over her hands immediately. “Aunt Joan knitted them, and I’d forgotten I had them in there until now.”

“Th…Th..Thanks.” Robin stuttered through clattering teeth.

“We’ll give it a little while to charge you up and then see if it starts.” He glanced over at her still shivering form. Her face was cast in shadow, but he could see the glint of the street light at the corner reflecting in her eyes as she looked at him. Her face was pale in the dimness. Her breathing quiet but still marred by her shivers.

“You warming up any?” he asked softly as he watched her.

“A little.” Her voice was slightly muffled by the scarf she still had wrapped around her face. “I’m so sorry Cormoran,” she started.

“Stop,” he interrupted her. “You couldn’t know this would happen. And I’d much rather you call me than some nameless roadside assistance person.”

She glanced down, drawing his attention to the mitten covered hands she was twisting together in her lap anxiously. Seeing those hands twisting he wondered if she'd had to hear lectures from Matthew in previous circumstances like this.

He leaned over again and laid his left hand over hers. “Robin? Look at me.” She slowly raised her eyes to meet his. The air around them shifted. Became charged with intensity.

“I’d never leave you stranded anywhere.” His eyes focusing on her face intently. “And I’d be infuriated if I found out you’d called a stranger instead of me, just because you’re afraid of inconveniencing me.” He continued softly. He held her gaze as he felt one of her hands turn over under his. Her palm now pressing against his through the thick wool. Her eyes were smiling at him over the scarf now and unconsciously he leaned closer as he continued, “I’m your partner and your friend. You’re supposed to be able to rely on me in situations like this. Stop apologizing. OK?”

She nodded as she raised the hand not pressed against his to lower the scarf and leaned toward him. She pressed her cold cheek against his warm one and turned her head slightly so that her lips, also cold, pressed lightly to his cheek. He heard the sound of her kiss against his cheek and expected her to draw back, but she stayed there, her cheek resting against his. No, rubbing against his.

No would else would have been able to resist doing what he did next. No other man could have sat in that car with her, smelling her light scent, feeling her mittened hand grasping theirs, with her cheek pressed sweetly to theirs, and resisted turning their head into her neck.

Her gasp as he pressed his face to her neck between the scarf and the underside of her jaw was one of pleasure. He was sure of it. But he paused, staying just where he was, breathing the scent of her skin, her jaw pressed against his cheekbone.

Her left hand, bare now, slid to the back of his head. He could feel her cold fingers slipping through his curls, as her head tilted toward the back of the seat, allowing him to burrow deeper into her.

He reached up to tug her scarf further down, baring more of her neck to his lips, murmuring, “What are we doing?” as he nuzzled and kissed the warm skin revealed to him.

“Shh,” she said in a sighing whisper, “Just don’t stop.”

He drew back, feeling her hand slide from his hair to his shoulder, and looked at her. Her eyes were closed, eyebrows raised as though she was waiting for something, for him. As her lashes started to flutter open he raised his right hand and slid his fingers into the hair at her nape, using his thumb to tilt her chin back, raising her lips into the perfect position for his to meet.

Her lips were still cool, but they warmed quickly under his. His thumb began stroking her jaw, fingers tangling in the warm hair he’d longed to touch for ages.

Her taste was new and yet familiar. He’d never kissed her before, despite the number of times he’d wanted to, but somehow, he felt as though he had. Her mouth was soft and warm on his. It felt perfect and right, kissing her this way. Her tongue was gentle and curious as it swept out and brushed against his lower lip, searching for his.

He groaned quietly and gently broke away from her.

“What are we doing?”

“You’re kissing me,” she sighed. “Finally.” She grinned at him.

“Finally?” He was genuinely baffled.

“Yes,” she said firmly. “Finally. Though you do keep stopping and that’s rather frustrating.” She grinned at him.

“Oh, excuse me. I’ll just,” He motioned to her with an index finger.

“Mmmm yes. Please do,” she whispered as his drew her closer, this time crushing his lips to hers, aroused beyond thought at the idea that she’d been wanting this.

He kissed her deeply. His tongue exploring her mouth the way he’d only ever dreamt of.

He kissed her sweetly. Lips pressing first to her top lip and then to her bottom, before moving to the corner of her mouth.

As he swept kisses along her cheeks she whispered, “I’ve wondered,” a gasp as he nibbled her earlobe, “So many times what your lips felt like.”

“Have you really?” he rasped into her ear before exploring the patch of skin below it.

“Yes.” She tilted her head again, this time in the other direction, so that he could graze his teeth long her neck.

“Why did you never say anything?”

“Mmmm. I like that.” Her voice was dreamy. She was so soft against his mouth. “Why didn’t _you_ say anything?”

Her question stopped him. He rested his chin on her shoulder and sighed before laying his head against hers. His fingers massaged the base of her skull, her hair slipping through and tangling around them.

He couldn’t prevaricate now.

Now it would be the truth. She, _this_ , was too important to attempt to hide anything anymore.

“I’ve wanted this for so long Robin.” He sat slightly back to look at her face. “You were engaged when I first met you. Then you left him, and I thought, maybe, if I gave you time…” He trailed off and shook his head as she opened her mouth, “But you went back to him and I understood. How could I not, after Charlotte? But then at the wedding, holding you on the stairs,” he glanced down. “I didn’t want to let you go. I wanted to ask you to come with me.”

“I would have,” she burst in. “Oh Cormoran, I would have.” She leaned her forehead onto his shoulder. “I’d have left right then.”

“You’d just married him Robin. I had to assume you wanted to be with him.” He could hear the anguish in his voice. The remembered pain of holding her that night, the way her arms had clutched him, and he could almost smell the roses that had been in her hair, again. She lifted her head from his shoulder, but her hand had started to stroke his arm, soothing him. 

“I got so pissed that weekend. I hid in a cheap motel, from the press.” She raised an eyebrow in a silent question, “I couldn’t be around Ilsa feeling as I did. Not having just lost you. She’d have seen through me immediately.” He shrugged. “So I found a motel and I got completely pissfaced. I hadn’t been that pissed since,” he paused to think. “Well, since everything happened with my mom.”

“It doesn’t matter now.” She shook her head, despite the tears gathering in her eyes and reached for him again. “It doesn’t.” She pressed a soft kiss to his forehead. “We know now. That’s what matters.”

He nodded and smoothed her hair with a soft slide of his hand. “We need to check the truck,” he whispered reluctantly.

She gasped and laughed, “I’d forgotten all about it.” She pressed another kiss to his lips before sitting back, hand lifting to the door handle, then pausing and turning back to him, “Will you come home with me tonight?”

“If you want me to,” he said quietly.

“I want you to.” She smiled at him. A blindingly brilliant smile filled with hope and excitement. And then she opened the door and scampered out into the cold.

He climbed out and followed her, hands in his coat pockets, watching her hop into the front seat of the truck and then smiling as he heard the engine roar to life.

He disconnected the jumper cables and stowed them back in his boot, then as he closed the hood of the truck her felt her step up next to him.

He took her hand and raised it to his lips, then used it to tug her against him.

He hugged her close for a moment, pressing a kiss to the top of her red gold hair, before releasing her reluctantly and watching her slide back into the truck.

As he walked back to his car and got behind the wheel, watched her pull out from behind him and start the drive to her flat, he smiled.

The woman just never stopped surprising him. 

**Author's Note:**

> If you enjoyed this...and want to challenge me (pleaseeee) leave me a request. You can find me here: [](<div%20class=)[One Hundred Ways To Say I Love You](https://rosenoble9.tumblr.com/post/182613770451/one-hundred-ways-to-say-i-love-you)


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